Marine cleats are used on docks, piers and seawalls to receive lines or ropes from marine vessels to tie the vessels to the docks.
Such cleats typically have a base, an upstanding leg, and an upper horn portion terminating into laterally extending ends or projections. A line from a boat or a line attached to a cushion, fender, bait basket etc., is wound in a back and forth, knot-like fashion about the leg of the cleat, between the base and the horn projections. The cleats are secured by fasteners through the base to the dock, typically in a horizontal orientation, but are also capable of vertical mounting on dock pier or seawall posts.
Marine cleats typically have an opening in the central portion of the leg for weight and cost reduction purposes.
People occasionally use the cleats as handholds when getting in or out of the boat. However, the projections on the ends of the horn are usually too small to provide a secure handhold. In addition, the opening in the center portion of the leg of many cleats is too small to receive more than a couple of the user's fingers. Thus, previously devised marine cleats do not provide a secure handhold for a person entering or egressing from a boat.
Fluctuating river and lake levels cause the height of a boat tied to a dock or seawall to vary considerably in a vertical direction with respect to the top of the dock or seawall. The fixed mounting of conventional cleats in either horizontal or vertical orientations on a dock, pier or seawall an make it difficult to secure a line to the cleat if the lake or river level falls considerably, or if not optimally positioned for a given boat for use as aids in assisting a person to get into or out of a boat.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a cleat which addresses the above-noted deficiencies with prior cleats. It would also be desirable to provide a cleat which provides a secure handhold to a person getting into and out of a boat. It would also be desirable to provide a cleat which is moveably mountable on a dock or pier post to accommodate fluctuating water levels and boat rail heights. It would also be desirable to provide a cleat which can be used in multiple applications, including non-marine applications, as an article holder or a handgrip on any vertical support or as an article carrier.